by Peter Gilgallon

How does your garden grow?

In times of financial restraint you need to be sure you are getting good value for money from your service charges, and this includes the cost of garden maintenance. Peter Gilgallon of the GOL Group provides some hands-on advice.

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amay fall on a line in your accounts that reads ‘garden maintenance’. you may also notice that the figure is pretty high and that is when you ask yourself the question, is this is really necessary? Surely any Tom, Dick or harry can cut grass, weed and prune a few hedges for a much better rate?

This may be true, but if you use a low-cost garden maintenance provider to save money, you need to ask the following questions:-

• What experience do they have? • Do they have any references? • have they a local site you can look at? • have they got the correct insurance? • Do they have a spraying licence (PA1 / PA6)? • Do they have a complaints procedure?

Garden maintenance is not rocket science but a good company will offer all the above and they will also be able to advise on what maintenance is required dependant on your budget. If you only have a very limited budget, then you will have to accept that the gardens will not look perfect all year round and they will advise you the best schedule that would hopefully satisfy all residents.

As a rule of thumb the following tasks need to be carried out throughout the year but obviously this will depend on the frequency schedule that has been agreed with your contractor.

This is not a full list but covers most basics.

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Define beds, weed and feed grass, some pruning of certain hedges/shrubs and starting to cut grassed areas – by June all areas of gardening are rapidly growing. Any spring bulbs should be allowed to die off naturally as cutting these back too soon will stop them from flowering next year.

summer

Weeding and cutting grass will still need to be done but by midsummer the grass will slow its growth and with the heat you should not cut the grass too short as this will weaken the root and any moisture will not be trapped. It is not advisable to prune back any hedges/shrubs that are flowering as this will stress the plant and may cause flowering the next season to be limited. If you know that the weather is going to be long, hot and dry for a few weeks it is not advisable to put down any feed to grass areas as the majority of these require watering in.

autumn

Leaves are dropping fast and furious and on some developments all that can be done in the first few weeks of this season is to pick them up. The last feed of the year to be done and cutting back on majority of shrubs and hedges. Cutting of grassed areas will be less frequent but with the warmer weather staying longer you will need to be cutting into mid November. Edge all borders and hoe the beds before the winter sets in and makes the ground too hard to do this. Beginning of October is also the time to ask about planting any spring and summer bulbs.

Winter

Keep on top of any shrub/hedge pruning. Dependant on weather really determines what work can be done. Some contracts may include that rock salting is to be done when needed and paths kept clear of snow and ice - but do check with your property manager as some insurance companies do not cover this work and it is a bit of a grey area.

Also bear in mind that when you have chosen a contractor for your garden maintenance, you should also give them a reasonable time before you see results as some work done in the Autumn may not show until Spring or Summer.